Parents today also worry about their children's diets. Some doctors give the following advice：

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    The Earth is our home; we must take care of it. This means keeping the land, air and water clean. Pollution is a dirty word. To pollute means to make things unfit or unclean to use. Pollution comes in many ways. We see it, smell it, taste it and drink it. Pollution is beginning to threaten (威胁) our health, our happiness and our life. Man has been polluting the earth from the time he first made fire, washed his clothes in the river and threw his waste on the ground. When land was used up or water became dirty, men moved on to another place. At first, the problem was not so serious because there was plenty of clean air, land and water. There weren't so many people then and their wants were fewer. All the dirty things could be absorbed (吸收) by nature and soon covered over. But this is no longer true. The increase of population and the development of industry(工业)have changed that. Man is slowly poisoning (毒害) his environment. Through the use of poison, man has polluted the land, killing the animals. By putting dirty water and chemicals into rivers and lakes we have polluted our drinking water, killing the fish.

    Our increasing population is part of the problem. More people, more waste.

    Where is this all to end? Are we turning the world into a big rubbish dump (堆存处), or is there any hope that we can get rid of (摆脱, 除去) the pollution? Luckily, millions of people have been warned of the danger of pollution. Large numbers of people are now working hard to bring pollution under control.

Using iPads to Make Learning Fun

    Paper, pencil, whiteboard, textbook are the tools you need if you want to go to school. But recently, you can add another one to the list: an iPad.

    Because the popular Apple tablet is not only useful for searching the Internet and watching videos, but it is also being used to make learning fun.

    Scientists now know that we learn better when we are enjoying ourselves, so recently software developers have made iPad applications(应用程序) that look like video games, but have strong educational content. One of the best examples of this new form of teaching application is Futaba, game in which up to four children try to recognize a spinning旋转的）object, and then identify what it is. The game can be used to teach English, math, foreign languages, or just about anything, and students love it. Teachers can even make their own questions. The important thing is that children enjoy the game, and don't even realize how much they are learning!

    So the next time you have to choose between making your child study or letting them play game, just remember——they could do both at the same time!

    SoFi is a special "fish". It is 47 centimeters long. It is all white. It has a small round head. What kind of fish is it? Actually, SoFi is a soft robotic fish. Scientists from MIT made it look like a real fish. They want to use it to study sea animals when the ocean environment changes.

    SoFi's skin is made of a kind of rubber. It's soft. The robotic fish's head is 3D printed. There is a camera in its nose and it can take photos and videos underwater. SoFi can swim among real fish. It is quiet. It doesn't scare other fish. It can also turn left and right, and even change its speed.

    Although SoFi is not the first lifelike robotic fish, it is the most advanced of its kind, according to MIT scientists. Many other countries have also made robotic fish, including the UK and China. Scientists said these robotic fish can easily get close to other fish. And other fish can even interact (互动) with them.

    When you carry your heavy schoolbag on the way to school or home, do you know the fact that the heavy schoolbag influences your interest in learning knowledge? Don't worry. You may be able to say goodbye to your heavy schoolbag in the near future.

    Instead of burying(埋葬) your face in an ocean of textbooks, newspapers, magazines and novels, you will soon find that an E-book reader can take the place of them all.

    An E-book reader is a new kind of mini machine designed to hold thousands of text files and display them on the screen as real text printed(印刷) on a paper page.

    In the same way in which the iPod(a kind of MP3) has changed the way people enjoy music, E-book readers could change the way that books are read. Some scientists have predicted that E-books will be used widely in our daily life, especially in schools.

    The size of an E-book reader is the same as that of real books. Its screen is different from that of a computer. It is as thin as a piece of paper. The words on an E-book reader's screen look exactly the same as those on real pages. However, you can do more with an E-book reader than you can with a real book. The reader can change the size of the words and connect to the Internet to download new books.

The Vine That Ate the South

    Kudzu is a fast-growing vine(蔓生植物) that covers a large area in the southern United States. It is so common that one might think it is a native plant, but it is not. Kudzu was brought to the United States from Japan in 1876. Many Americans thought it was beautiful, and they began to plant it. They didn't know it could grow up to a foot a day during the summer months. Nor did they know it would grow up and over anything in its path.

    In Japan, kudzu experienced cold winters and a short growing season. But in the United States, it has a very long growing season with warm and wet southern weather. It is fine weather for the vine to grow fast.

    In the 1920s, people used the vine to feed farm animals. Ten years later, the government supported to plant kudzu because it kept soil from washing away. However, by the 1950s, the government no longer wanted people to plant the vine. Twenty years after that, the government said it was a harmful plant.

    The vine grows up trees and buildings, making some beautiful shapes. However, trees die after kudzu covers them because they cannot get enough light. Scientists are looking for ways to kill the vine. They used poisons(毒药) to kill the vine. However, some of the poisons made it grow even better. Scientists also find it difficult to dig up Kudzu. The plant is really tough.

    Because kudzu is so hard to kill, some people are making the best of it. So they try to find different uses for the vine. They find the vine can be used to make paper and baskets, it can be used to feed the goats, and it can even be eaten by people. Scientists are studying it in the hope that the vine can be used as a medicine. At the very least, kudzu serves as an example of the unexpected results that can come from non-native plants.